CREDIT: MOHAMMAD ALI
Mohammad Ali, of Socialist Hip Hop, raps about the struggles of part-time college workers in Ontario.

“Same job, less hours, less pay, less power. Organize for a say, or watch your rights slip away,” raps Socialist Hip Hop’s Mohammad Ali in his new song “Same Job”; a song written as a lament to the part-time workers in Ontario colleges suffering unfair treatment.

Ali has been a political advocate for the fair treatment of part-time workers in Ontario colleges for over a year. To share his dissent, he has used his music collective Socialist Hip Hop as well as his work with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).

OPSEU started in 1911 as the Civil Service Association of Ontario and represents approximately 130,000 members from places such as the Ontario government, community colleges, the LCBO and the health care sector.

OPSEU has been championing the rights of part-time Ontario community college workers for decades now, and Ali believes now could be the time to clinch the issue.

Part-time workers in Ontario’s community colleges remain the only group of workers who are unable to organize and collectively negotiate the terms of their employment, which leaves them open to be taken advantage of by employers. Most part-time workers in Ontario colleges will struggle with low pay, lack of hours and lack of sick time. Precarious work is a dangerous trend, especially in Ontario, which has the highest post-secondary tuition rates in the country.

“OPSEU has been fighting for college part-timers’ rights to unionize for over three decades,” said chair of OPSEU college support staff division Marilou Martin. “In September 2015, OPSEU launched its latest campaign to organize thousands of part-time college support staff.”

OPSEU represents all full-time support workers across Ontario’s community colleges. They want to level the playing field for part-timers and negotiate better wages, improved working conditions and greater fairness, according to Martin.

OPSEU has undergone an educational campaign geared towards informing part-time workers of their rights as employees. OPSEU is also attempting to get more part-time workers to sign OPSEU membership cards so that they can eventually unionize and benefit from the same rights that their full-time counter parts enjoy.

OPSEU has recently shifted into high gear after fighting for part-timers for decades. In the first week of March, OPSEU filed an application to the Ontario Labour Board to become the representative of and negotiator for thousands of part-time support staff in Ontario’s colleges.

President of OPSEU, Warren (Smokey) Thomas remarked, “To the best of my knowledge, this is the largest single certification application in Canadian history. This application covers 24 colleges and more than 100 campuses in every corner of Ontario.”

OPSEU is looking for your support as the final nails are driven into the coffin. If you would like to get involved, you can visit collegeworkers.org.

“Together, we will be turning thousands of precarious jobs into good, stable, unionized jobs,” Martin said.